Gradient + Watermarble

This is my billionth attempt with watermarble and I'm finally pleased with how it turned out! Minus the bubbles on my middle finger :( I also took the opportunity to try out my acrylic paint and do a gradient. It's very subtle, I wanted the main focus to be the watermarble. I'm really pleased with how this mani turned out! 

I really like how easy the acrylic paint was to work with, but nail polish definitely lasts longer. I used seche vite on top and the paint started crackling underneath, but then it settled down. It's still slightly textured with two top coats. Clean up was a little weird as well. Acetone does remove the paint but it sort of peels, as opposed to nail polish just dissolving. Also, as I was doing dishes today the tips got some wear so my two pointer fingers are now chipped. 

I'd like to try a watermarble over a gradient, or a gradient watermarble next. I'm still a little undecided with whether I like wearing watermarble or not. It's pretty but it's a lot of work and it's hard to control the design sometimes. 

What are your favourite gradient or watermarble designs? Do you like combining them? 

XO Natasha 

First Time Water Marbling

I've been wanting to try a water marble forever, but never got around to it! It just seemed like too much effort since it's so messy, so I was absolutely dreading cleanup! I watched so many tutorials on this before I finally worked up enough courage to try it. My favourite video is my Cute Polish. I love all her videos! They're so simple and they're so easy to follow, check her out! 

First I started by taping my nails like in the video so I wouldn't have too much to clean up after. The most important thing is to make sure your water is room temperature, and that your polishes are new, or haven't thickened over time. If the polish doesn't instantly spread out (like in the video) you'll need to try a different one. 

I decided to keep my first water marble simple so I only used two colours. I used Sally Hansen - Barracuda and Orly Passion Fruit. I really had no idea what I was doing when I started to swirl the polish around, and I had no idea how to line up my nails with the patterns. I also think my water was too cold because I originally started with two other polishes but they didn't spread very nicely. When I used Barracuda and Passion Fruit, they spread okay but a couple times I had to let the polish dry because it wasn't spread out at all. 

This is definitely a really cool mani and I really want to give it another try. I love how it dries so fast because it's only a very thin layer of polish. At the same time though it's a bit challenging to get the hang of because since it's so thin, you have to work fairly fast. 

I can't wait to try water marbling again, it's so unique looking compared to any other type of manicure. Let me know if you have any tips or comments about water marbling!